Stephen Curry reached some rare air in the NCAA tournament.
He scored 40 points in Davidson’s 82-76 victory over Gonzaga in the first round on Friday, just the third time since 2000 someone scored that many points.
The last player to score 40 points in the NCAA tournament was Gerry McNamara of Syracuse, who had 43 in the Orange’s 80-75 victory over Brigham Young in the first round in 2004.
Tayshaun Prince of Kentucky had 41 in the Wildcats’ 87-82 win over Tulsa in the second round in 2002.
There have been 20 games where a player has scored 44 or more points in the history of the tournament and five of those belong to Austin Carr of Notre Dame, who holds the single-game record with 61 points against Ohio University in the Fighting Irish’s 112-82 first-round win in 1970.
Curry, the son of former NBA sharpshooter Dell Curry, had 30 points in the second half and finished one point off his career high set earlier this season against North Carolina Greensboro.
While most eyes were on Curry throughout the game as he went 8-for-10 from 3-point range, one of Davidson’s less-heralded players came up with his first double-double of the season.
Junior forward Andrew Lovedale had 12 points and 13 rebounds, the next-to-last of which was on the offensive end and he passed the ball to Curry for the 3-pointer that gave the Wildcats the lead for good with 1:04 to play.
Davidson coach Bob McKillop went biblical in praising Lovedale, a native of Nigeria who played his high school basketball in England.
“I said this the other day in front of our student body,” McKillop said. “I said, `If God had put Andrew in the Garden of Eden, we would still be there.’ That’s the kind of man he is, and to see him perform like he did today, wow. I couldn’t be more happy for him.”
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NEW HIGHLIGHT: Every year the tape gets dusted off and we see Bryce Drew hit the winning 3-pointer for 13th-seeded Valparaiso in a 70-69 victory over No. 4 Mississippi in the first round of the 1998 NCAA tournament.
It took 10 years, but there’s a new highlight in town.
Ty Rogers’ 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded in overtime gave 12th-seeded Western Kentucky a 101-99 victory over No. 5 Drake.
Drew’s shot, off a play the Crusaders called “Pacer,” became the trademark TV clip of a mid-major beating a team from a power conference.
The Western Kentucky-Drake game was a mid-major matchup but Rogers’ shot off a pass from Tyrone Brazelton was a big-time play.
Coming out of the final timeout and trailing by one point, Rogers told Brazelton: `’Don’t be afraid to kick it to me.”
Brazelton dribbled the ball across halfcourt, went to his right and threw a perfect pass to Rogers.
“It kind of worked out good,” Rogers said.
Western Kentucky coach Darrin Horn sounded like a commercial.
“Got to love the NCAA tournament, don’t you?” he said. “I think what you just saw out there is why this is the greatest show on Earth. Can’t say enough about Drake, unbelievable character, toughness, heart. They played so hard, they countered everything. What a great team. Unbelievably well-coached.
“And I think what you saw was what makes this event special, a bunch of young people out there just completely pouring their hearts out and fighting to the very end. And we were fortunate that we got the ball last, and that we’ve got a lot of character. … From one senior to another, great pass by Tyrone, big shot by Ty Rogers, and very fortunate to come out on top.”
And on the other side was Drake, which saw its remarkable season end in the most emotional way possible.
“I think most coaches in that situation and if not most, anyway myself, you expect those shots to go in, because you see those highlights all the time,” first-year Drake coach Keno Davis said. “That last-second shot, you get a good look at it, they tend to go in more times than not, it seems like. So you’re figuring it’s going in. They got a good look. And just a lot of emotions go through your head.”
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LOW FIVE: After a year off, the No. 12 seeds are back haunting the No. 5s.
Western Kentucky beat Drake 101-99 in overtime Friday, the 12th time – how appropriate – a 12 seed has beaten a No. 5 in the first round since 2001.
There had been at least one win by the 12s every year since 2001 until last season. There were four years when it happened more than once, including 2002 when Missouri, Tulsa and Creighton all won as No. 12s.
Notre Dame and Michigan State both won as No. 5 seeds on Thursday and Clemson played No. 12 Villanova on Friday night in the last of those first-round matchups.
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HOME COOKING: Staying in state meant first-round success for the most part.
Five schools got to play first-round games in their home state in the first round and with top-seeded North Carolina still to play No. 16 Mount St. Mary’s on Friday night, only one lost.
Stanford, UCLA and Davidson all won in their home states, while South Alabama, playing in Birmingham, lost to Butler.
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